Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-08-25
COUGHLlN Is HELD.
Verdict in the 'ChatswOrth Disaster
The Section Foreman Blamed
by the COrOner's Jury.
He is Arrested and Held to Await the
Action of the Grand Jury
The Railroad Not
Censured.

CHATswoRTH, I'LL, Aug. 1S.-The coro-
ner's jury agreed upon verdict this
morning which holds Timothy Coughlin,
foreman of section z, to the grand jury
and negatively exonerates the company.
The management is not cepsured for
running double-headers, for lax system
of track-inspection, or for anything else.
The verdict simply says that the failure
to patrol the track for six hours before
the train came and the habit of burning.
grass close to the track are subjects for
criticism. The friends of the road OH
the jury had better staying qualities than
those who wanted to fix a portion
of the blame on the company. At
the last moment the jury got into a
wrangle over the word Sire" in the clause
respecting the manner in which the
bridge caught fire. Maj. Shaw insisted
that nothing in the evidence showed how
the fire was communicated; so the YER
dict says: "We, the jury, think the
bridge caught fire from the burning
grass" Coroner Longs list contains
seventy eight names. The man thought
to be A. Martin, of Bloomington. was
identified by his friends as M. Fl. Cassel,
of Washington, I'll. The body supposed
to be that of N. A. Moore, of Jackson
vile, turned out to be j. N. Vokes, of
Moline. Coroner Long adds Mrs. Meals
8month-babe to the company's list.
Separate verdicts were made out for each
person.
ONE OF THE VERDICTs.
Mrs DR.. Duckett's is the first name on
the list. The following is the verdict of
the coroner's jury On her death: "We,
ha 70
into the death Of Mrs. DR.. Duckett. late
of Forest, ILL.,, on oath do find that she
came to her death by injuries received in
the wrecking of the Niagara Falls excur-
sion train on the Toledo. Peoria IL West
ern railway, on which she was a passen-
ger, at a bridge two and one-half miles
east of Chatsworth, about II o'clock
midnight, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 1887.
eve find that the wrecking of the said
train, which totally demolished eight
coaches, one baggage-car, one engine, and
either killed or wounded most of the oc-
cupants of said coaches, was caused by
said bridge having been burned out be-
fore the train struck it. We think from
from the evidence that the bridge was
fired from fires left burning, which had
been set as late SIS o'clock that afternoon
by the section men, as close as sixteen
feet on both the east and west sides of
the bridge. We further find that the
foreman of section 7, Timothy Coughlin,
disobeyed positive orders from his
superior to examine the track and
bridges on his section the last thing on
Wednesday, and we find that he did not
go over the west two and one-half miles
at all on Wednesday, and that the said
foreman, Coughlin, was guilty of gross
and criminal carelessness in leaving fires
burning along the track in such a dry
season and with such a strong wind
blowing.
eve recommend that he be held for
examination by the grand jury; and,
further, it is the opinion of the jury that
the leaving of the track without being
patroled for six hours before the passage
of the excursion, and the setting of fires
by the section hands on such dry and
windy day as of the 10th Of August, 1887,
were acts which deserve severe criticism"
CoUGHLIN ARRESTED.
Timothy Coughlin, the section foreman,
was arrested at noon, and will be taken
to Pontiac, the county seat of Living
stone county, at once. He says he can
not give bail and will have to go to Jail.
He insists that the verdict is uni ust; that
he went over his entire section as order
ed, and that no fires were built as near
the bridge as Head and Taggert testified.
PEORIA, ILL.,, Aug. 18.-Elton Waters,
single, and an employe of the Peoria
watch factory, died at Fairbury at 1
o'clock this morning of injuries received
at Chatsworth. His home was at Cattar
angus, n. Y.